Phoenix Mars Lander Update

Despite all the reported electrical problems on the Mars rovers, NASA has released positive results on the Martian soil tests performed Sunday July 5, 2008 by the Phoenix rover.

There had been concerns that this might be the last sample that the TEGA (Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer) could process due to electrical circuit problems on the Phoenix rover.

There has been one sample previously delivered to the TEGA two weeks ago. Current samples will be compared to these previous sample results. The third sample to be sent to the TEGA will not be soil.

NASA plans to gather a pure sample of the white substance we see in the trenches the Phoenix scoop has been digging in the Martian soil. They have been practicing sample recovery methods today.

All indications are that the third test will complete the data needed to determine the question of whether there is, or ever has been, water on the surface of Mars. This sample will be placed in the Phoenix TEGA later this week.

Success with these tests will hopefully remove NASA concerns about further TEGA electrical problems. There has been no further mention of circuit problems on the Phoenix rover main circuit boards.

Do check the Blogroll on the right side of the page for the latest posts and articles on space exploration.

Recently here on Galaxy Voyager, we have focused our posts on the Mars Expedition rovers. Soon we shall report the latest news on plans to repair the Hubble Telescope, and a story about finding Earth-like planets in deep space.

As always, we thank NASA for their great images and animations. We also hope all you folks at NASA get a good nights’ rest tonight.

You deserve a break today.
Smiles. ET

Mars Rover Circuit Problem News

The latest news from Mars is that circuits on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission equipment are not doing well. There are actually several rovers currently active on Mars and each are having their own problems.

There is currently no news on the success or failure of the TEGA equipment on the Phoenix rover. The Phoenix is at the Mars Polar Ice Cap and scraping soil samples for testing in the TEGA. Those tests will determine the presence of water on Mars, past or present.

A second MER (Mars Expedition Rover) is called Spirit. Spirit has been moving very slowly, but it is making progress towards a place called Home Plate. Once there it will be looking for evidence of water movement in the area.

Spirit has been experiencing problems keeping its batteries solar charged. The MER website has a great series of pictures that show the source of the problem. The images show what appears to be a broken hard wire connection on a solar panel. That will definitely affect the output of that panel.

Spirit is moving slowly and has made 4.7 miles progress toward Home Plate. Spirit has soft rubber wheels that have been slipping in the loose Martian soil.

Spirit has been doing as much travel backwards, as it has forwards recently due to loose soil conditions it is currently experiencing. NASA is not reporting any expectations that Spirit will not complete its basic mission.

With a bit of chagrin I also report that there is a third MER operating on the Martian surface. In an earlier post I corrected a CNN reporter for saying there was only one functioning Rover on Mars. Turns out there is actually a third rover functioning on the Martian Plains.

The third MER is called Opportunity. It has completed 7.25 miles on its journey to the Victoria Crater. The Opportunity has a robotic arm with four tools for soil sampling. The motor that controls the sideway motion of the robotic arm on the Opportunity has been stalling recently.

From the MER website we have this report:

"Even under the worst-case scenario for this motor, Opportunity still has the capability to do some contact science with the arm," said JPL's John Callas, project manager for the twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit. "The vehicle has quite a bit of versatility to continue the high-priority investigations in Victoria Crater and back out on the Meridiani plains after exiting the crater."

The Phoenix rover is having circuit problems with the TEGA. The Spirit rover has a broken wire on its solar panels, and the Opportunity rover has an electrical motor experiencing problems. Electrical problems appear to be a constant theme on all the Mars rovers.

There are currently great images on the Mars Expedition Rover homepage. The photos show where the Spirit and Opportunity are heading and there are articles giving a more detailed explanation of each mission.

You will find information on the Phoenix Mars Mission rover at the University of Arizona website. That link is also on the blogroll to the right of this page.

The good news from Mars today is that the Jet Propulsion Labs out of Pasadena, CA are stating that they now believe that an asteroid that will approach Mars in January will not strike the Martian surface.

That is one less problem for the NASA MER teams to be concerned about. They have their hands full as it is.

We wish them success.

Smiles. ET

Mars Lander Problem Update

The latest update from NASA reports that the Phoenix Mars Lander’s Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) is experiencing serious circuit problems.

It seemed as if the Phoenix was impatiently pawing in the Martian soil last week. What was delaying the movement of those soil samples in to the TEGA? Now we know.

There have been hints of circuit problems since the Phoenix arrived on the Martian surface 35 Sols ago. The Mars Lander went to the computer back-up operating system immediately upon arrival.

As I followed this story over the past several weeks I have found the basic mother board on the Phoenix was made by IBM, and is running UNIX software.

The Operating System is installed on the mother board in a chip, much like the Bios on your personal computer. I have seen the mother board on the Phoenix Lander described on Tech blogs as “twice today’s Xbox and running at 128 MHz”.

NASA team engineers recently did a software fix completely using the one flash drive available for the Mars Lander. The software fix appeared to take care of known “circuit” problems at the time.

The TEGA circuit problems appear to be related to a faulty circuit. I don't know if this circuit is hard wired, or on a board. A circuit with a fault can short circuit, and a short circuit can burn out your wiring. When you burn out your wiring, nothing works.

Concerns are that the soil samples gathered last week have dried out.

The NASA team understands they may have only one test performed by the TEGA before the circuits go. They want that one soil sample to tell them about the Martian soil substance believed to be ice.

NASA is planning to deliver a fresh soil sample to the TEGA Sunday morning. The NASA team then plans to send the signal for the TEGA to begin testing immediately.

Soon we will all have more answers.

Smile. ET

This Week on Mars

Success sometimes comes in small packages. Scientists are learning to operate the Phoenix scoop with precision and gathering specific samples of the Martian soil.

This week the team made 50 scrapes with the Phoenix Lander scoop in the Snow White Trench. They gathered these in to small piles equaling only teaspoons of material.

Each pile of soil comes from a particular sample area within the Snow Trench. Some of the piles are believed to have a high enough ice content to show water in the tests.

The scoop will now move a sample of the Martian soil from one of the small piles in to the TEGA for analysis.

The team appears to be getting the more mechanical aspects of the Phoenix Lander Mission under control. Next we see how the testing equipment does. And then, we'll have more answers.

For more information on the this story, check out the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab website for their press release on the Snow White scrapings.

Smiles. ET